Sep. 19—GRAND FORKS — UND has only played Clarkson one time in the last 23 years.

It was a single game in Winnipeg's Canada Life Center in 2012.

The teams are about to get reacquainted.

UND and Clarkson have signed a contract to play a pair of future hockey series.

The Fighting Hawks and Golden Knights will play in Cheel Campus Center in Potsdam, N.Y., during the 2025-26 season. It will mark UND's first trip to Potsdam since October 1999.

Clarkson will make a return trip to Grand Forks during the 2026-27 season to play a two-game series in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Clarkson's last time in Grand Forks was November 1998.

Outside of those series, and the Winnipeg game, the teams have only played one other series — the 1982 NCAA tournament in Grand Forks.

"We watch them from afar," UND coach Brad Berry said. "(Clarkson coach) Casey Jones is a good friend of mine. He's been coaching for a long time in college hockey. If you watch the way his team plays, they're high skill and hard to play against. They're very structured and well-coached. I think it will be a great matchup."

UND has completed its nonconference schedule for 2024-25 and

is nearly set for 2025-26.

The Fighting Hawks have four nonconference series scheduled in 2025-26: Bemidji State (one in Bemidji, one in Grand Forks), home against Mercyhurst, home against St. Thomas and at Clarkson.

That leaves one spot open for a nonconference series (or two if UND goes to Alaska to play either Alaska Anchorage or Alaska Fairbanks because those games are exempt from the 34-game limit).

Berry and Minnesota coach Bob Motzko have previously said they're working on a new deal for the teams to play future nonconference games but nothing has been signed yet.

Clarkson is the third opponent lined up for 2026-27. UND will go to St. Thomas that year and play Bemidji State once in Grand Forks and once in Bemidji.

After a drought of Eastern trips, UND has now lined one up three years in a row.

The Fighting Hawks travel to Boston University this season.

In 2024-25, they'll go to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on Cornell — a makeup for a series that was scheduled for the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season.

Then, in 2025-26, it's Clarkson.

"We always like to try to play teams from the East and play not all the same programs each and every year," Berry said. "We want to play different programs for the student-athlete experience."

Clarkson has one area connection.

Warroad High grad Daimon Gardner, a Vancouver Canucks draft pick, is set to be a freshman with the Golden Knights this season.

Clarkson has been one of college hockey's most consistent teams.

The Golden Knights finished 16-17-4 last season, ending a run of seven-straight winning seasons — one of the longest runs in college hockey.

"It all starts with Casey and their staff," Berry said. "They've won a lot of games over the years. They bring consistency with how they approach the game and how they recruit players."